FR Doc E9-29295[Federal Register: December 9, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 235)]
[Notices]
[Page 65147-65148]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09de09-83]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: San Diego Museum of Man, San
Diego, CA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary
objects in the possession and control of the San Diego Museum of Man,
San Diego, CA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were
removed from Kern, Sacramento, and Tulare Counties, CA.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3).
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the San
Diego Museum of Man professional staff in consultation with
representatives of the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa
Rancheria, California.
In 1958, human remains representing a minimum of four individuals
were removed from a burial site on a delta area called the "Meadows"
near the mouth of the Snodgrass Slough on an island in the Sacramento
River in the vicinity of Walnut Grove, Sacramento County, CA. The human
remains and associated funerary objects were collected by Mr. and Mrs.
Ken and Shirley Westbrook, and donated to the San Diego Museum of Man
on July 10, 1961. No known individuals were identified. The 13
associated funerary objects are 1 pestle, 1 bone awl, 3 stone
projectile point fragments, and 8 fired clay fragments.
The remains of two of the individuals consist of partial skulls
with associated mandibles. Originally, the other two individuals were
determined to be two bone awls, but were subsequently identified as
human remains. As noted by the donors, the site had been disturbed and
the remains of a great number of individuals seemed to be represented.
According to the Museum of Man records, the human remains and
associated funerary objects are believed to date to prehistoric or pre-
contact time. The Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa
Rancheria, Tachi Yokut Tribe, has provided the museum with information
consisting of oral stories, territory and language family maps, and
written ethnographical information about the Yokuts and their inter-
relationships with surrounding communities, which also covers the
territory where the human remains and associated funerary objects were
discovered, and provides a determination of more likely than not of
cultural affiliation to the human remains and associated funerary
objects.
On an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of seven
individuals were removed from a burial mound "at the Indian village
site" near the east shore of Tulare Lake at the junction of the Elk
Bayou and Tule Rivers, a quarter mile east of the Kings County border,
five miles from the town of Corcoran, in Tulare County, CA. The human
remains and associated funerary objects were collected by Mr. David
Folsom, and donated to the museum on November 13, 1954. No known
individuals were identified. The 59 associated funerary objects are 2
strands of glass trade beads, 1 strand of shell disk beads, 1 strand of
steatite disk beads, 2 strands of olivella shell beads, 4 tubular shell
beads, 1 shell tube, 1 steatite ceremonial stone, 1 abalone shell dish,
1 pismo clam shell bead, 2 abalone shell disk beads, 3 abalone shell
ornaments, 3 abalone shell pendants, 1 bird claw, 1 clay bead, 1 bird
bone ear ornament, 1 plummet stone, 3 stone projectile points, 1
obsidian drill, 2 stone blades, 2 slate blades, 23 fragments of a
steatite bowl (or bowls), and 2 miscellaneous steatite objects. There
are eight tubular shell beads currently missing in the collection.
Museum records indicate that the burial mound consisted of complete
skeletons, but only the skulls and funerary objects associated with the
burials were collected by the donor. According to the donor, "the
burial mound is called the "plague pit" by the local inhabitants due
to a story that in historic times, there was a plague among the Native
American people of the area which killed large numbers of them in a
short period of time. Their bodies were hurriedly thrown into a large
common grave which is supposed to be the mound." The donor also states
that "the beads were found in the area below the skulls, indicating
that they were necklaces, and other artifacts were placed on the bodies
or near them." Records indicate that the glass trade beads found
associated with the burials indicates that they are historic burials
and that the location of the site indicates that these are Yokut Indian
burials. The Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria,
Tachi Yokut Tribe, has provided the museum with information consisting
of oral stories, territory and language family maps, and written
ethnographical information about the Yokuts and their inter-
relationships with surrounding communities, which also covers the
territory where the human remains and associated funerary objects were
discovered, and supports a determination of more likely than not of
cultural affiliation to the human remains and associated funerary
objects.
In 1956, human remains representing a minimum of one individual
were removed from a burial located two miles north of the town of Pond
on Central Valley Highway, in Kern County, CA. In 1972, the human
remains were gifted as part of a collection to the San Diego Museum of
Man by Dr. Carl L. Hubbs of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. No
known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are
present.
[[Page 65148]]
The burial was recorded as being in a sitting position and was
exposed by land leveling, about two feet below the surface. The pelvis
bone was permeated with gypsum or salt. Museum records indicate that
the cultural affiliation of the human remains is southern/central
Yokuts, and indicates the age as prehistoric. The Santa Rosa Indian
Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, Tachi Yokut Tribe, has provided
the museum with information consisting of oral stories, territory and
language family maps, and written ethnographical information about the
Yokuts and their inter-relationships with surrounding communities,
which also covers the territory where the human remains were
discovered, and provides a determination of more likely than not of
cultural affiliation to the human remains.
Officials of the San Diego Museum of Man have determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above
represent the physical remains of 12 individuals of Native American
ancestry. Officials of the San Diego Museum of Man also have determined
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 72 objects described above
are reasonably believed to have been placed with or near individual
human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite
or ceremony. Lastly, officials of the San Diego Museum of Man have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a
relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced
between the Native American human remains and associated funerary
objects and the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa
Rancheria, California.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact Philip Hoog, Archaeology and NAGPRA Coordinator,
San Diego Museum of Man, 1350 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
92101, telephone (619) 239-2001, before January 8, 2010. Repatriation
of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the Santa Rosa
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California may proceed
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
The San Diego Museum of Man is responsible for notifying the Santa
Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California that this
notice has been published.
Dated: October 15, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-29295 Filed 12-8-09; 8:45 am]
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